This tyrant, a cunning inventor of punishments, devised new methods. Some victims were crushed under the feet of elephants, others, buried up to the shoulders, begged for death which alone could terminate their sufferings. It was a heinous offence to give them the least assistance or to hasten their death. He employed fearsome tortures. The bodies of victims were squeezed so tightly by cloths that the cloth appeared to be part and parcel of the body of the sufferer. Some were pierced with needles of various shapes and then were cut in half, the upper portion being placed on a copperplate so as to stop the bleeding and to prolong the agony. Three thousand persons were sacrificed to the barbarity of the tyrant, who under the pretext of avenging the death of his daughter, found a means of removing the enemies of his usurped power. There still remained other important victims namely the two sons and the daughter of the late King. As he could only revile them for their misfortune and degradation, he brought a false charge against the eldest daughter whom he accused of having given an exhibition of unholy glee at the cremation of the Princess. She was condemned to the ordeal by fire together with all the ladies of her suite and the pain extorted from her the avowal of a crime of which she was innocent. The executioner at once received the order to cut off a piece of her flesh and to make her eat it. When she was offered this disgusting repast, she cried out. "Vile tyrant! you can rend my body, but remember that my spirit is not under your command. You will observe that the fixity of my purpose renders me superior to your tortures. Learn also that your crimes will not go unpunished and that my blood shall be a seed from which shall arise the avengers of my family and country."